Days That Shook the World (2003) s02e10 Episode Script

The Cold War era
was a time of mistrust and suspicion.
Espionage became the favourite tactic
to stay one step ahead of the enemy.
Among the Cold War spy stories,
two days stand out.
The shooting down of
America's top secret U-2 spy plane
and the day the Soviet Union
and the USA traded spies
on the Glienicker Bridge in Berlin.
Based on eye-witness accounts,
this is a dramatised reconstruction of events
as they happened on two days that shook the world.
It is the first of May 1960.
A brutal massacre in Sharpville, South Africa,
prompts world-wide condemnation of apartheid.
In Maryland, USA,
the Food and Drug Administration
approves the sale of the contraceptive pill.
In paris, preparations are underway
for a super-power nuclear arms summit.
And in peshawar, pakistan,
an American spy plane is about to embark on
the first complete over flight of the Soviet Union
peshawar US Air Force Base,
north-west pakistan,
four miles from the Khyber pass.
A top secret air craft
taxis onto the runway.
It's a plane that can fly
higher than any other.
And one the Americans believe
will win them the Cold War.
Powers powers It's time.
Over the next four hours,
its 30 year old pilot must
carry out routine preparations
for his twenty-eighth mission.
But there's nothing routine
about today's objective.
If successful,
he will become the first American
to fly across
the whole of Communist Russia.
More significantly, he could secure
the Americans a vital edge in the Cold War.
Six years ago,
president Eisenhower approved
a $35 million programme to produce
20 high altitude surveillance aircraft.
After eight months of trials,
the U-2 was born.
The test pilots nicknamed it the 'angel'
because of the way
it soars effortlessly into the sky.
With a massive wing span of 80 feet,
two can fly at 450 miles per hour
and maintain an altitude of 70,000 feet.
Higher than any Russian aircraft can fly.
Its secret payload
is a massive Hycon B camera.
It has a resolution six times
that of the human eye
and its claimed can photograph a newspaper
from miles away up in the sky.
The U-2 gives the Americans an instant
and unprecedented advantage in the Cold War.
The purpose of today's flight
is to photograph
Soviet military installations.
In particular,
some key missile sites near Sverdlovsk.
You wanna be careful over here,
this is where I had problems with the MiGs.
Sure thing.
It's a risky mission.
So US commanders have chosen
their most experienced pilot.
30 year old Captain Francis Gary powers.
Just six years ago,
the CIA approached powers
while he was serving in the US Air Force.
One and a half. Three and a half.
I only learned later that my selection
was less random than it appeared.
Only reserve officers like me
had been selected
since there would be less questions
when we resigned.
It's the longest flight she's ever made.
The U-2 quickly became
president Eisenhower's strategic weapon,
providing clear photographic evidence
of Soviet military capabilities.
The United States found itself
faced by a closed communist empire
which had lost none
of its ambitions for world conquest,
but now which possessed
an ever growing capacity
for launching surprise attacks
against the US.
But the top secret plane wasn't secret for long.
Russian radar spotted the very first flight,
but the U-2's high altitude
made it unreachable, almost invincible.
Soviet leader, Khrushchev,
viewed the over-flights as an insult.
They seemed to point at a very weakness
of his air defence force.
A race began to develop missiles
that could shoot down the spy plane.
We were sick and tired
of these unpleasant surprises.
Sick and tired of being
subjected to these indignities.
They were making these flights
to show up our impotence.
Well, we wouldn't be impotent any longer.
1700 miles away, Major Mikhail Voronov
is sleeping off a heavy night.
Yesterday, his missile battalion
was relieved from combat alert duty
in advance of today's public holiday
and they partied into the night.
Today, is May Day,
one of the biggest and most important
public holidays in Russia.
An extravagant military procession
will take place later in Moscow's Red Square.
But today it will be
a more modest display than usual.
A reflection of the recent
thawing in Cold War relations.
Six months ago, Khrushchev became
the first Russian leader to visit America.
That was a public relations triumph
and confirmed that a dialogue
between the super-powers was possible.
In two weeks' time,
the key nuclear disarmament summit
will take place in paris.
Should anything go wrong
on today's mission,
the paris summit could be in jeopardy,
and there are already
some technical concerns.
The plane that powers will fly today
is known as a dog.
Plagued with problems it recently
hit the headlines after crashing in Japan
when the pilot ran out of fuel.
Captain Gary powers knows
all about the plane's chequered past.
- This same plane.
- That's right.
- I guess it's a lucky plane.
- Yeah.
Already apprehensive,
it's a detail he could do without.
Can't eat anymore of this
Major Mikhail Voronov
is looking forward to an easy day.
After 20 years' service
in the Soviet Air Defence Force,
he has recently received
his discharge papers.
Today will be a routine day
of light duties.
And he has decided to spend the morning
with his soldiers at the barracks,
before leaving early to spend the rest
of the holiday relaxing with his family.
During today's flight,
Gary powers will be flying so high
that he must pre-breathe oxygen
for two hours,
to get rid of any
dangerous nitrogen in his blood.
Is that OK?
His tightly fitted pressurised suit
has been designed to protect him
in case he is forced to eject.
While wearing it,
powers will lose nearly four pounds
through perspiration during the 10 hour flight.
Outside, an unexpected wind change
is making the ground crew nervous.
In his equipment,
powers will carry flight maps,
his ID and security passes,
both Russian and American currency.
And some bribe money. Dollars and roubles.
In case anything happens.
He will also carry
a 2-2 pistol complete with silencer,
200 rounds of ammunition,
and a seemingly innocuous silver dollar.
Gary, do you want to
take the silver dollar?
Inside the innocent looking dollar
is a needle tipped with curari poison.
It cost the CIA $3 million to develop
and its deathly effects are instantaneous.
With the Cold War at its height,
many pilots opt to take the poison
to avoid being captured alive
in enemy territory.
I asked the intelligence officer
what if something happens
and one of us goes down over Russia.
Exactly how much should we tell.
His exact words were,
you may as well tell them everything
'cause they're going to
get it out of you any how.
OK, let's give you a hand. Up.
You know this is the longest flight
she's ever made,
but I've got every confidence in here.
After two hours breathing oxygen,
powers is ready.
OK, I've checked her from nose to tail
and she's A OK to go.
The heat is unbearable.
The morning temperature is already
creeping towards 85 degrees Fahrenheit.
Six months ago
Humidity is close to 60%
and powers is already drenched in sweat.
He is well aware that today's flight
is the most ambitious of any U-2 mission so far.
What he doesn't know is
that with his success or failure,
the fate of the paris Nuclear
Disarmament Summit hangs in the balance.
My clothes were already soaked
and beneath my helmet
the sweat was running down my face.
I'd say you're good to go.
At 6:26 a.m.
Gary powers applies full throttle
and the plane glides down the runway.
At first the U-2 struggles
with the unevenness of the track,
but it finally soars through the Khyber pass
and above Kabul, capital of Afghanistan.
Just 10 minutes into his flight,
powers crosses into Soviet territory,
over Kirovavad at 60,000 feet.
Almost immediately
Soviet radar picks up the U-2,
prompting a flurry of signals.
At 0600, 24 minutes after powers
is spotted on radar,
premier Khrushchev is woken by a phone call
from his chief of military.
I picked up the receiver
and the voice on the other side said
an American U-2 reconnaissance plane
had crossed the border
of Afghanistan into Soviet air space
and was flying towards Sverdlovsk.
Khrushchev faces a dilemma.
He has made great efforts
to improve relations with the west.
If he orders the plane to be attacked,
it will be a set back
and could destroy any hopes
for the paris Summit.
Yet if he ignores the insult,
it will leave him open to attack
from hard liners within the party.
He must make a quick,
but considered decision.
I replied that it was up to shoot down the plane,
by whatever means he could.
34 minutes into the flight,
all radio contact is broken off
with a single click from Erickson.
For the next 10 hours,
Gary powers will be completely alone in miles
and miles of deep blue sky.
In this thin stratospheric air,
the margin between flying at top speed
and stalling is only a few knots.
Pilots call this the coffin corner.
It is a problem that
Gary powers knows only too well,
having clocked up over
600 flying hours onboard the U-2.
Being so high
gave me a unique satisfaction
and a special sense of aloneness.
There was only one thing wrong with
flying higher than any other man had flown.
I couldn't brag about it.
35 miles south of Sverdlovsk,
May Day preparations are underway
at number one missile battalion.
Enjoying the relaxed atmosphere
with his troops
is their commanding officer,
Major Mikhail Voronov.
Voronov's superior officer has taken leave
to celebrate the holiday.
Today, Voronov will be calling the shots.
I rushed to the launch site.
My first thought was that my superior
had decided to test our alertness.
A few miles away, Volodeus Surin,
a driver at a local state farm
is on his way to pick up his car.
Like many farm workers,
Surin has the day off
and he's looking forward
to the May Day celebrations.
It was an unusually bright and sunny day.
It looked as though nature itself
was happy about May Day.
Later I would listen
to the radio broadcast
to the distance
and dear voice of Moscow.
Gary powers crosses the Aral Sea.
He sees a white streak below him.
It's the vapour trail
of ajet fighter aircraft
and it's moving at
supersonic speed towards him.
Moments later, the plane turns around.
It is now flying parallel with powers.
He's been spotted.
I wondered what the Russians felt,
knowing I was up here
and unable to do anything about it.
If this was the best they could do,
I had nothing to worry about.
Missile batteries and air defences
are scrambled throughout the Soviet Union.
Incensed that the American's
would fly a mission on a national holiday,
Khrushchev immediately orders
the special command, Kovior.
Meaning that all non-military flights
are now grounded
so that radar operators and the Air Force
can concentrate on the U-2.
Three weeks ago,
Bob Erickson's U-2 was spotted,
but Soviet air defences
were unable to bring it down.
This time they have been warned
that they must not fail.
The missile battery is ordered to
be fully operational for immediate action.
It is a command rarely given
and one that the untested equipment
can only sustain for
a short period of time.
But Voronov has another worry.
In the rush,
no-one has told him what the target is.
Every man was afraid.
What kind of plane was approaching?
What did the American want?
And atomic bomb perhaps.
Was the first time a missile
was to be fired at a combat target.
Powers flies over the Terratan Cosmodrome,
the key launch site for most
of the Soviet's intercontinental missiles.
Clouds obscure powers' vision,
but he switches the camera on
in case he can capture
some useful intelligence.
From an air force base near Volga,
two aircraft are scrambled,
but they return almost immediately.
In all the confusion,
they've forgotten their oxygen masks.
In Moscow, crowds are beginning to gather
for the Red Square celebrations
as Khrushchev continues to berate
the commander of the air defence.
The U-2 has been in Soviet air space
for an hour
and no-one has yet
managed to bring it down.
I told them it was a scandal.
The country had given all the
necessary resources to the air defence,
and still they could not destroy a plane.
Powers has flown slightly off course
because of heavy cloud.
As they begin to clear,
he corrects his heading
using the Ural Mountains as a marker.
Once a boundary between Europe and Asia,
the mountains were not very high.
Still snow-topped,
on either side the land was green.
It was a beautiful day
and I began to feel more comfortable.
Just as powers is beginning to relax,
his Leer A10 autopilot falters.
Then it breaks down completely.
It was an abort situation.
An hour earlier,
the decision would have been automatic,
I would have gone back.
But I was more than
1300 miles inside Russia.
The worst of the weather
appeared to be behind me
and visibility ahead looked excellent.
I decided to go on
and accomplish what I had set out to do.
Powers must now navigate
and make sure that the plane does not stall
while also operating the hycon camera
and taking notes of any military
and industrial buildings.
In effect he must now
do the job of two pilots.
It couldn't have happened at a worst point.
Barely 30 miles away
lies the city of Sverdlovsk.
Home to at least three missile sites
and a major industrial complex.
It is a city with a violent history.
It was here that the Bolsheviks
assassinated Tsar Nicholas
and his family in 1918.
Now it is closed to all foreigners
as it is one of the Soviet's
main production centres
for tanks and cannons.
I lined up on my next flight line
which would go over
the south-western edge of the city.
Spotting an air field
that did not appear on the map,
I marked it down.
My route would take me directly over it.
Aware that he is about to leave the military,
Major Voronov hopes
that his battery is successful
so that he does not leave in disgrace.
Voronov's three radar operators
have yet to lock onto the target.
The U-2 is travelling at
nearly 460 miles per hour
and the radars have a limited range.
In order to succeed, they must lock onto
the enemy within the next few seconds.
Voronov orders them to fire.
The control officer
pushes the launch button,
but nothing happens.
Of the three V-75 missiles,
only one successfully ignites.
Travelling at mach two,
the missile will reach powers
in less than one minute.
Everyone at the radar base
silently prays for victory.
In the thin stratospheric air
at 70,000 feet,
the missile only has
an accuracy of 250 feet.
The 180 kilogram
warhead fragments into 3,600 pellets.
The U-2 is hit.
As the pellets tear into the tail
and rear fuselage,
powers loses control
and begins to lose altitude.
There was a dull thump.
The aircraft jerked forward
and a tremendous orange flash
lit the cockpit and the sky.
My god. I've had it now.
The May Day parade begins.
The sky was sunny and beautiful.
The celebration was jubilant.
The mood of the working people was joyous.
But Khrushchev's thoughts are elsewhere.
Minutes tick by
as we waits for news of the U-2.
In the quiet village of Kosulino,
an explosion is heard.
We looked up and saw
what looked like a white umbrella.
Was a black line hanging beneath it.
A parachutist.
We were frightened for him.
What if he has a bad landing.
Believing the parachutist
to be Russian Surin
quickly drives over to see
if he can help him.
The sudden descent
has left powers suffering from concussion
and severe tinnitus.
My head ached and my ears rang.
Everyone was questioning me at the same time
but I couldn't understand them,
nor reply.
Escape at this point was impossible.
A few miles away, the wreckage of the U-2
rained down in the fields
near Sverdlovsk.
The debris will later be collected
and flown to Moscow for analysis.
It is 10 minutes after the missile launch.
Only now is Major Voronov
sure that they have shot down the intruder.
And he notifies his superiors.
From American listening stations
along the Soviet borders,
US agents routinely tap
Soviet air defence communications.
But not realising
the significance of the latest reports,
it will be three hours
before the CIA find out
that their U-2 has been hit.
Minutes after the start
of the May Day parade,
Khrushchev hears that the U-2
has been successfully shot down.
As he congratulates the army,
he knows that the timing could not be worse.
I went out of my way not to accuse
the president in my own statements.
After all, it was in our interest to say
that the undisciplined people in
the American intelligence were responsible.
Still thinking that powers is Russian,
Surin and his friends are concerned
about the condition of the downed pilot.
Guessing that powers
might have damaged his hearing,
Surin tries to find out
if there are any more pilots.
Suddenly, Surin spots powers US Army pistol.
He notices that it's not Russian issue
and the mood changes.
They now realise they have
an American spy in their midst.
Everything put us on guard.
His pressure suit.
His clothing for high altitude flying.
Special equipment. And weapons.
Without a word we decided.
We have an enemy in our hands.
As news breaks in America
that powers has been captured alive,
many feel that he should have killed himself
and destroyed the plane.
Bob Erickson will not hear
until much later tonight
that Gary powers didn't make
touch down in Norway.
Erickson will continue to fly the U-2
and in 1962
he will photograph
the Russian surface to air missiles
which lead to the Cuban missile crisis.
Hailed as a national hero,
Major Mikhail Voronov's release papers
from the military are revoked.
Six days after he downed the U-2,
he is awarded the Soviet Order
of the Red Banner.
In paris, with the summit
meeting sabotaged beyond salvage
by Khrushchev's deliberate
propaganda tirades,
president Eisenhower,
prime Minister Macmillan
and president deGaule make their farewells.
As a result of the U-2 incident,
the paris summit ends in disaster.
With it dies any hope
of a nuclear disarmament agreement
and premier Khrushchev
launches a bitter tirade
against president Eisenhower.
On August 19th 1960,
the Soviet military court
sentences Captain Gary powers
to 10 years imprisonment in the
notorious Vladimir prison in Siberia.
But just two years later,
Gary powers would be thrust
into the Cold War spotlight once again.
It is February 1962. In Rome
the pope has excommunicated Fidel Castro
after he adopts communism.
In Florida, John Glenn is about
to become the first American
to orbit the earth.
In London, a young Liverpool band
called the Beatles
are turned down for a record deal.
And in Berlin,
Russia and America are preparing
to exchange spies.
Berlin. February 1962.
Germany's largest city is divided.
The political and cultural differences
between communist east and capitalist west
have never been so obvious.
New York lawyer, James B Donovan,
is on his way to meet the head
of the KGB in Western Europe.
Today, he is attempting to engineer
an ambitious and unprecedented spy swap.
Look, I have an appointment
with Secretary Schiskin.
To do so, he must persuade the Soviets
to surrender Gary powers, the U-2 pilot
shot down over Russia two years ago.
And Frederick prior, a young Yale graduate
who was charged with spying in 1961.
In return, the US government will release
the Russian master spy,
Colonel Rudolf Abel,
who was arrested in Brooklyn in 1957.
The Soviets have already agreed
in principle to a swap.
But Donovan knows that
it's far from being a done deal.
Tempelhof Airport, West Berlin.
A top secret flight arrives.
Colonel Rudolf Abel is transferred
from his prison in Atlanta, Georgia,
under the watchful eye of Fred Wilkinson,
the Deputy Director of prisons.
For the next 24 hours,
Wilkinson must ensure that Abel
is kept out of sight and out of harm.
Donovan meets his adversary. Secretary Shiskin.
Head of KGB operations in Western Europe.
It is a difficult meeting
and Donovan knows
there is no guarantee its success.
- It's a nice day for it. The sun is shining
- Yes, it is unusual
Schiskin is being deliberately evasive.
So how are you able to trade
the Abel for powers exchange.
The Soviets know that Gary powers
is the most prestigious
American prisoner they hold,
so they suggest trading Abel
for prior instead.
Powers and prior.
And we'll give you Abel.
This was the agreement
that I talked about with my government.
Donovan is used to playing hardball.
He used to be
the General Counsel for the OSS,
the precursor to the CIA.
So he knows how to play the game.
Negotiations are deadlocked.
Donovan feels like a pawn
in a game of chess
between the KGB and Washington,
as the exchange threatens
to spiral out of control.
I've been playing round
with this since Saturday
and going to telephone my government,
I'm going to tell them
we should stop all negotiations
and I will go home and I will recommend
to Colonel Abel that he reconsiders
unco-operation with the
United States government.
Across the city on the other side
of the Berlin Wall,
Gary powers arrives
in preparation for the swap.
He doesn't know
that his release tomorrow morning
is still being negotiated.
Nor does he know
that he is part of a proposed swap
that will see him exchanged for a Soviet spy.
Two years ago, 30 year old U-2 pilot,
Gary powers,
set off from pakistan.
It was to be the first
ever complete over-flight of Russia.
But he didn't make it.
Shot down over Sverdlovsk,
he was captured, interrogated
and put on trial,
where he declared he was
deeply repentant and profoundly sorry.
It was a single event
that had major repercussions.
A key nuclear disarmament
summit ended in disaster
and with it any hope for improved relations
between America and the Soviet Union.
Since his arrest,
Gary powers' father, Oliver powers,
has been monitoring developments
from his home in Virginia.
Some Americans are outraged
that rather than taking the poison,
Gary powers allowed both himself
and his plane to be captured.
At his show trial in Moscow,
Oliver powers had to watch
as his son was found guilty
and sentenced to 10 years in prison.
Oliver begged the judge
to imprison him instead
but to no avail,
and Gary powers was sentenced
to 10 years hard labour
in one of Siberia's most feared prisons.
Vladimir prison.
It is here that the Soviet regime keeps
its most important prisoners.
The people they want the public to forget.
Food rations are deliberately scarce
and powers has lost 25 pounds
since his capture.
His cell mate is Sigourd Krumanish, a Latvian
convicted of treason
after fighting the Russians.
Over the last two years,
they have become great friends
and Sigourd has introduced powers to chess.
At the Soviet Embassy in East Berlin,
negotiations between Donovan
and Schiskin are continuing.
So, I'm waiting for some better news
for the government.
Donovan reminds Schiskin
of his commitment to east-west relations.
After all, Donovan had acted as
Rudolf Abel's defence lawyer in America
and lobbied successfully for a prison sentence
rather than the death penalty.
And he said not since
John Adams defended British Soldiers
But it seemed that the terms
of the deal are troubling Schiskin.
Why should the Soviets surrender two prisoners
forjust one in return.
Two for one.
The American's one.
Secretary Schiskin,
one artist is always worth more
than two mechanics.
I believe that Colonel Abel
is very, very important to the Soviets.
Am I right?
The seeds of Rudolf Abel's downfall
were sown nine years ago in America.
June 1953.
A young paper boy is about
to become involved in an espionage case
that would take the FBI
four years to crack
and become known as
the infamous hollow nickel case.
As the paper boy dropped his change,
one coin split open.
Within this 1948 Jefferson nickel
was a microphotograph
with a coded message.
10 columns of 21 numbers
with five digits in each number.
Immediately, the FBI was alerted
that a Soviet spy ring
was operating within New York.
A search began to find the person
who made the nickel,
as well as its intended target.
A four year investigation
led them to a painter
called Emile Goldfuss.
Unaware he was under surveillance,
he had continued to develop the spy ring
that had been built up
around America's Manhattan project
and feed America's nuclear secrets
back to Russia.
Colonel Rudolf lvanovich Abel,
alleged the highest ranking Russian spy ever
indicted in the United States
is returned to Brooklyn
for arraignment in central court.
Inside Abel's room
in the Latham Hotel,
federal agents found a labyrinth
of espionage equipment.
Shortwave radios, cipher pads,
cameras, and chemicals
to make microphotographs.
Found guilty of espionage,
Rudolf Abel was sentenced to 30 years
and fined $3,000 for spying.
He was about to be given
the death sentence
until his lawyer, James Donovan,
convinced the court that one day
he might prove useful for an exchange.
Charges that carry
a possible death penalty.
In Virginia,
55 year-old ex-coal miner Oliver powers
decided that he had to do something
to try and free his son.
He too could see the potential
of a prisoner exchange.
Dear Colonel Abel,
I am the father of Francis Gary powers
who is connected with
the U2 plane incident
of several weeks ago.
You can readily understand
my strong desire
to have my son released
and bought home to me and my wife.
I would urge and do everything possible
to have my Government release you
and return you to your country,
if the powers in your country would release
my son and let him return home to me.
Very truly yours, Oliver powers.
As night falls in Berlin,
Donovan is still unsure
whether the planned swap
will take place at all.
At last he gets the call
he has been waiting for.
The swap will now go ahead.
Tomorrow morning at eight,
he's to meet Secretary Schiskin
on the Glienicker Bridge,
ready to trade spies.
We're all set for tomorrow then.
Super, OK.
Until earlier this week,
powers was totally unaware
of events surrounding him.
He has now served nearly 18 months
in the notorious Vladimir prison.
How would you like to
go to Moscow tomorrow morning?
Sure, I'd like that just fine.
Without guards.
Confused by this sudden development,
it takes a moment
before Gary powers realises that
he's about to return home to Virginia.
I'm really going home.
Powers starts giving his friend
and cell mate, Sigourd,
the treasured possessions
he has hoarded over the last two years.
In his bag,
powers carefully conceals the journal
that he has written over the last 22 months.
Saturday, February 10th.
It's a freezing winter's morning.
In less than four hours,
the swap will take place.
With little time to prepare,
Donovan knows that all eyes are on him
to make sure that nothing goes wrong.
Would you like a cigarette Mr Abel?
The Russian foreign intelligence
recruited Rudolf Abel in 1927,
aged just 24.
And he quickly developed
a strong spy network.
Having effectively failed in his mission,
he's beginning to wonder what the reaction
will be like when he returns to Russia.
Mr Donovan. Mr Abel.
- Still smoking our cigarettes I see.
- Why not.
After a meeting with Fred Wilkinson,
James Donovan goes to meet his old friend,
Rudolf Abel.
I have done nothing to bring dishonour
of my country or myself.
- When will we start?
- Oh, soon. About one hour.
Good.
I asked him whether he was feeling OK
about returning home.
He told me he was,
but I was amazed to see
how old he looked all of a sudden.
It's called The Meaning of dreams.
In the eastern sector,
Gary powers is on the move,
but he has no idea where he's being taken.
After circling potsdam four times,
the KGB car suddenly stops.
A well-dressed man,
looking and talking like
an American got into the car.
And for the first time I was told
what was going to happen.
You are to drive direct
to the Glienicker Bridge.
At 8 o'clock, 20 minutes,
you will walk onto the bridge.
And at the same time,
the Americans will do the same.
However, if anything
goes wrong on the bridge,
you are to return with us.
Do you understand that?
I nodded,
but I decided then
that should something occur,
I would run for, even if it meant a bullet.
I wasn't going back.
The atmosphere inside Abel's car
is equally tense.
An argument with one of the guards
about the merits of communism
nearly ended in a fight
and Donovan had to separate them.
There is now a stony silence in the car.
A nervous tension that makes
Donovan feel uncomfortable.
As powers and Abel approach
the Glienicker Bridge,
a car simultaneously arrives
at Friedrickstrasse,
otherwise known as Check point Charlie,
where Frederick prior is to be released.
We walked onto the bridge.
I could see too far away for
any of them to be recognisable,
a group of men approaching
from the other side.
At exactly 8:20,
I walked to the centre of the bridge,
as Shiskin began to walk to us
from the other side,
accompanied by a man
I'd never seen before.
Slowly, from each end of the bridge,
both sides begin to edge closer,
looking more like a formal dance
than a spy swap.
Mr Donovan
Secretary Shiskin.
I presume everything is in order.
As agreed, prior has been
released at Friedrichstrasse,
therefore, the exchange
will now take place.
I need to confirm
that before we exchange packages.
Mr Donovan, I told you
that Mr prior has been released.
That should be enough for you.
The error is on your side.
This is a civil exchange
and we must complete now.
We wait right here, until my people
confirm that prior has been released.
Donovan stands his ground,
determined not to be hoodwinked
by the Soviets at this late stage.
Gary powers has already decided
that no matter what happens,
he will not be going back to Siberia.
It would be a long run
but that didn't shake my resolve.
I wasn't going back.
The tense atmosphere
is broken by New York lawyer,
James Donovan,
who cracks ajoke with his adversary.
Perhaps the East Germans are arguing
with prior about their legal fees.
Suddenly, a familiar face steps forward.
Gee, it's sure good to see you.
A fellow U-2 pilot
has travelled from America
- to positively ID Gary powers.
the got us confused.
Listen, what's the name
of your high school coach.
My high school football coach.
For the life of me
I couldn't think of the name.
Then I remembered the air force form
I'd filled out more than 10 years ago.
With questions in case
I had to be identified.
- What's your wife's name.
- Barbara.
You're Francis Gary powers.
At the same time,
Rudolf Abel is also identified.
Word reaches the Glienicker Bridge
that Frederick prior,
the American student held by the East
German authorities, has finally been released.
- Cigarette?
- No thanks.
The next time you come to see us,
come as a friend.
Next time I'll come as a tourist.
I didn't say as a tourist,
I said as a friend.
Good luck.
Fred Wilkinson has an official
pardon signed by Robert Kennedy,
the Attorney General,
and his brother, the president.
This document pardons
Abel for all his crimes,
provided that he never returns to America.
Goodbye Rudy.
Goodbye, Fred. Can I have that?
Sure.
I keep this as a sort of diploma.
Goodbye, Jim.
Good luck, Rudolf.
got you. Abel. Colonel Rudolf Abel?
You know, the Soviet spy.
It was the first time I realised my release
had been part of an exchange
and I wondered whether
Abel had remembered
the name of his high school football coach.
I crossed the white line and found myself
in the embrace of friends.
My mission which had lasted
14 years had come to an end.
It is 8:52 a.m.
One year, nine months and 10 days
since Gary powers was captured,
and almost five years
since Abel was imprisoned.
On his return to the US,
powers will attend a CIA board of inquiry
into the circumstances of his crash.
Many Americans still believe
he was wrong to allow his capture.
In May 1965,
the CIA awards powers
the Intelligence Star,
one of its highest accolades.
12 years later, Gary powers will die
in a helicopter crash over Los Angeles
as he conducts a routine traffic report.
Nothing more is heard of
Colonel Rudolf Abel until 1965,
when it's reported that Abel
has been awarded the Order of Lenin,
the Soviet's highest civilian honour.
The Cold War will continue
for another 27 years.
And despite modern technology,
the need for spies
will remain a key element
in the world of political espionage.